For the Canadiens, It Will Only Get Better

By
Michael Ham-Fan
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28
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(Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images)

by Michael Ham-Fan, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine

(Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images)

MONTREAL, QC. — The Montreal Canadiens’ season came to an end with Tuesday night’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, in the sixth game of the series. The Canadiens lost their first three games to Tampa Bay before winning Game 4 and Game 5. The comeback fell short, but the Habs and their fans can be proud of the effort they put up this season.

Fans are upset, understandably so, but it is important to keep in mind that things can only go upwards from here, like it has been for the last couple of seasons.

The team’s core is still young with Carey Price, Max Pacioretty, P.K. Subban, Alex Galchenyuk, and Brendan Gallagher, 27 years old and younger. The Canadiens also have a deep prospect pool with the likes of Michael McCarron (68 points in 56 OHL games), Nikita Scherbak (82 points in 65 games), Brett Lernout (42 points in 72 games), Tim Bozon (63 points in 59 WHL games) and Charles Hudon (57 points in 79 AHL games). Theses prospects all had very impressive seasons and will definitely get a look at the upcoming training camp.

This team has gotten better every year ever since general manager Marc Bergevin took over, and I believe that his plan is on schedule. With the acquisitions of depth players like Brian Flynn, Devante Smith-Pelly and Torrey Mitchell near the trade deadline, it seemed to me that the GM determined that it wasn’t the right year to “go for it.” With that said, he also added defenseman Jeff Petry who turned out to be an integral part of the team. In my mind, Bergevin would have overpaid to get offensive help if he felt that the team was just a player away from the Cup.

But, he didn’t.

Therefore, it seems Bergevin considers that his team’s “Cup window” is open. With a little tweaking on offense, this team could be in a good state very soon. Although adding offense will certainly  be on the Canadiens agenda this offseason, Bergevin must tidy up business with players on the current roster first.

What to look forward to in the off-season

The first contracts to work on will be the ones of Alex Galchenyuk, Jarred Tinordi and Nathan Beaulieu, who are restricted free agents. After that, I personally would like to see the Habs make a serious pitch to keep Jeff Petry on the team, who is an unrestricted free agent. Since his acquisition, he has shown to be an excellent asset for the team with his skating and his poise. In the playoffs, he has also displayed some offensive instincts on the power-play. He would be a perfect second-pairing defenseman who can fill in on the top pairing if needed. However, he is arguably the best defenseman available in the NHL this off-season, so expect a very high asking price.

Bergevin’s reign has been highlighted by his ability to build from within with strong drafting. There is another one coming, with the general manager and his team looking to add to an already deep pool of prospects. I will suspect that offensive players will be the priority for the Habs in this draft.

Then, on to free agency.  While Bergevin doesn’t have the cap space to spend crazily, I think that he will try to add some immediate help skill-wise in his forward group. Players like Dale Weise and Brandon Prust can be effective in short stints in a season, but can not play in a top-6 role for an extended time (like Weise did this season.) So, the focus for me, would be to shore up the offense. It will definitely be a very interesting off-season, and I will follow it very closely and share my thoughts on every move they make.

All in all, as a Habs supporter, I am impressed with the effort they put out this season and I am very optimistic about their future in upcoming seasons. This team is not far from where they want to be.

 

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Michael Ham-Fan
Michael Ham-Fan
http://www.allhabs.net/
Lien vers mes articles en français : http://fr.allhabs.net/author/mhamfan/ -------------------Michael is a Staff Writer for All Habs Magazine. He completed a bachelor's degree in Psychology at the Université de Montréal and is now doing his Masters' degree at the Université de Sherbrooke in Clinical Sciences. Michael has been a hockey fan and a Habs fans pretty much all his life, so for the last two decades and a half. He was born in Montreal to a Chinese mother and a Honduran-Chinese father, so he is fluent in French, English and Cantonese. He understands Spanish and Mandarin but not enough to speak it. His objective in writing is to give information and to give his opinion. At no point will he try to act as an expert on the subject. Michael is humbled to be able to write on hockey and that has always been a dream for him. He attends a lot of hockey games and practices during the year (Habs, Juniors etc.) and when he is not at the game, he is watching them at home, so he will base his opinion a lot on what he has actually seen rather than what he has heard. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael est un chroniqueur pour Le Magazine All Habs. Il a complété un baccalauréat spécialisé en Psychologie à l'Université de Montréal et il est maintenant, à sa première année en maîtrise en Sciences Cliniques à l'Université de Sherbrooke. Michael a été un amateur de hockey et un partisan des Canadiens depuis les vingt-cinq dernières années. Il parle quotidiennement en français, en anglais et en cantonais. Il comprend aussi l'espagnol et le mandarin sans être très fluide. Michael a appris que la modestie et le respect étaient deux valeurs nécessaires dans la vie. Son approche pour écrire des articles est de donner son opinion basée sur de l'information concrète. Son but n'est surtout pas de se prendre pour un expert. Il assiste très souvent à des matchs de hockey (Canadiens, Juniors, etc.) et lorsqu'il n'est pas dans les estrades, il les regarde chez lui. Donc, son opinion sera basée sur ce qu'il aura vu, plus que ce qu'il aurait entendu. Donc, ses articles ne seront jamais écrits sous le point de vue d'un expert, mais bien celui d'un amateur qui veut susciter la discussion avec ses pairs.

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28 COMMENTS

  2. I agree totally, team needs to add offence. Signing Petry will be hard, but is not as big a priority as trying to find a top 6 forward or 2. This teams struggle on the powerplay just really boggles me. For the last 5 years or so they have been at or near the top of the NHL. I am guessing that this drop came about from losing the assistants he had in that time. Never really thought that MT was a good hire as coach. Wasnt all that impressed with his first stint with the Habs or when he was in Pitt. His juggling of the lines drives me mad. Also having Galchenyk playing on the wing and bouncing the guy around the line up hurts his development. I was so hoping that this year was the year they played him at center. He is just the thing this team needs. Watched him play a lot in Junior, he was one hell of a play maker, not much of a finisher. All in all should be a interesting off season for sure.

  10. There could be some offensive help on the way in the form of Scherbek. He appears poised to make it hard to demote him come training camp. If he looks like he can be a top 6 contributor, then that gives the team the flexibility to move Galchenyuk to centre, where he needs to be. Sadly, if no top 6 help is found, who would fill the LW2 slot that he is in now?

    Regarding Petry, I think that he must be a priority. Markov has slowed down and is looking his age. He would be a good fit on the second pairing where he could play second fiddle to Petry, who looked fantastic in the 3rd D slot.

    • Agreed. If I’m not mistaken, they have groomed offensive prospect Charles Hudon as a left-winger instead of a center. He would be a possible Top-6 contributor with his speed and skill. Although, I think that Bergevin will make a pitch for an established Top-6 forward this off-season, no matter the position he plays.

      Yes, I agree also that Petry should be kept. He has shown that he is a very good fit in our system. The only problem is if we can afford to pay him a hefty contract.

  16. When you have a goalie like Price, you must do whatever it takes to improve the scoring. You don’t want to wait until the young prospects mature because by then Price will not be as good eventually. NOW is the time to make sure they get some scoring power, not when Price is going down.

  17. I would just like to thank all of the Montreal Canadiens players for such a great season. Yes I realize they did not advance but throughout all of the regular season and playoffs they played like it mattered. They might not have gotten there this season but they will get the cup….SOON!!! Carey your just my idol and every one of the team’s players contributed to their overall success……Montreal Canadiens are definitely the best team there is! See you next year!

  22. It will get better if they get rid of their dead skin….Suban.The only player who played to his full potential is young Mr.Price.He carried them from beginning to end.

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